England prepared to set off and establish a new Pakistani base camp in Lahore a little wiser and happily unscathed from a close call in their tour opener against the Patron's team.

Without either Marcus Trescothick's 162 unbeaten runs or a sudden surge of wickets from Durham paceman Liam Plunkett (four for 16) and Ashley Giles (four for 39), England's Ashes heroes would have suffered a chastening defeat at the Pindi Stadium yesterday.

Instead, they fought back to emerge 52-run victors in a see-saw contest which left a relieved Michael Vaughan ticking some but by no means all the boxes he had hoped to fill in.

Trescothick apart, England's batsmen were twice a collective failure - and their bowlers were unable to test themselves in authentic sub-continental conditions because they had to operate on a pitch Vaughan described as more Headingley than Rawalpindi.

It all left the captain with much to ponder as he and his team today made the five-hour journey by road to Lahore.

They are set to meet up again with their Super Series stars Andrew Flintoff and Plunkett's Durham team-mate Steve Harmison in time for the second and final tour match against Pakistan `A' as they try to ready themselves for the first Test in Multan a week later.

Vaughan is not disputing the fact England's batsmen failed to do themselves justice against a Patron's team for whom former Scottish Saltires seamer Yasir Arafat took five for 31 in the second innings to finish with nine wickets in the match.

Totals of 256 - Trescothick making almost half the runs - and then 112 were not especially encouraging and contained 13 individual single-figure scores.

But the captain, who was among the top-order batsmen to miss out both times, is not about to over-react.

"We want more time in the middle but we obviously know that Test match cricket mentally is totally different," he said.

"The last few seasons in England we have gone in with this so-called `under-cooked' word. We seem to have done pretty well, though, and I don't see it as a massive worry because the mentality is totally different at Test level."

Vaughan can look forward to the valued assistance of Harmison and Flintoff in Lahore, where he expects England's chosen Test XI to be fielded.

"They are experienced members of the team, and it is always nice to have your full squad together," he said.

"The Lahore game will be a big one, because everyone will be together - and it gives Freddie Flintoff and Harmy a chance to play in these conditions.

"We will probably play our Test XI, because it is the only game we have now before the first match in Multan."

Plunkett was among those to make strides in Rawalpindi - but Vaughan does not yet see the 20-year-old forcing his way into the Test reckoning.

The same is probably true of wicketkeeper-batsman Matt Prior, although the captain was impressed with what he saw of England's new recruit in front of the stumps and behind them too when he replaced first-choice Geraint Jones in the second innings.

"Liam bowled very well, used the conditions well and has a lot of potential. But to talk of him making his debut a week on Saturday, I think that is a bit too soon," said Vaughan.